SEC: Electric company phone app not used for billing purposes

By Scott Harpersharper@southstrandnews.com

The SEC Smarthub shows an electric use average and is not used for billing purposes.

When Tracy Jones of Andrews looked at her Santee Electric Cooperative “Smarthub” this week, she could not believe her eyes.

The app on her phone seemed to indicated she was being billed for electricity use but she had not had power in her home for days.

“Why were we charged for usage on the days we were without power?” she posted on the Georgetown Times Facebook page. “We were charged around 10kw each day we didn’t have power and we deserve to know why and have these charges removed!”

Santee Electric Cooperative spokeswoman Adriel Langley said what customers are seeing on the Smarthub app on their phones is not what they will see when they get their monthly bill. She said the numbers and graphs on the app “represent an average of the typical usage from that account based upon the usage history of the member.”

Langley said memebrs “will only be billed for the electricity they have consumed.”

She said what is seen on the Smarthub is not used for billing purposes. The app, she said, is a tool that shows average electric use so customers can adjust their power use to save money on their bills.

“It is not connected to where we get the numbers for billing. There will be zero usage for members on the days they had no power,” she said.

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